Page 36 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

LONG-EARED OWLS

ith its chameleon-
like ability to meld
perfectly into a
background of bark
and foliage, the
long-eared owl is
Wpossibly one of the
hardest to see in Britain. It is one of our most
nocturnal and shy owls, and rare too – on
average, there is thought to be around 3,500
breeding pairs here in summer. If you do spot
one it might be the startling, orange-sapphire
eyes that you’ll see first – its tall ear tufts
(not true ears but soft, feathery protrusions)
confirm the owl’s identity. So, with UK
sightings usually few and far between,
where’s the best place to see this elusive
beauty? Luckily, I had had a tip-off.
“Serbia?” my husband Rick said. I could
see him picturing landmines and armed
police. But all that was out of date. “It’s okay,”
I said. “It’s been safe to go there for years.
I won’t be on my own. I’ll be in a group.”
The tip-off was from the 'Urban Birder’,
David Lindo, who was leading the owl
expedition. In previous years, Serbia has
not had a good press but David said that it
was now quite safe to visit – the people were
friendly and actively welcomed ecotourism.
David’s contact on the ground, Milan, was
promoting bird-watching trips to help raise decoration, shelter and fuel. They mainly things – the grass, the paths, the trees –
the profile of Serbian wildlife. He would be plant silver pine and spruce – the kinds magical and beautiful. “As the number of
taking us to see the largest known gathering favoured by long-eared owls. In the absence of small mammals in the fields diminishes
of long-eared owls in the world. ‘If you other trees, cut down for firewood, these urban and prey becomes harder to find,” Milan
don’t see an owl on this trip, we will eat our conifers have become prime roosting sites. continues. “The owls come into town to
binoculars!’ the website proclaims. There had Agricultural activity has also benefitted the roost. Here, it’s sheltered, warmer than the
been reports of 800 owls gathering in a single owls. The many old-fashioned smallholding surrounding countryside, and there are
location. I was going to the owl capital of the farms traditionally use grain and corn stores plenty of rats to eat. The lime trees, white
world, to their international HQ – Kikinda. in open stacks, which small mammals can poplar, and above all the plentiful conifers are
easily enter. The owls’ favourite prey, small stuffed with roosting collared doves, blue tits
Helping hand rodents, flourish, providing perfect pickings. and many other small birds upon which the

“This is my Kikinda town,” quips David when It is now thought that up to 30,000 owls live owls can easily prey. Even better, there are no
we arrive. There were only two rules for the in Serbia. “In some villages, there are more buzzards or goshawks in town – these are the
trip – ‘always look up’ and ‘don’t scare the owls than people!” Milan tells us. predators most feared by the owls.”
owls’. Having agreed to these, we set off. In five months, Serbia.com reports, the
In Britain, long-eared owls often inhabit Urban legends owls may eat over half a million rodents and
rural places, miles from the nearest street In winter, the land has a stark, crystalline then, in the spring, they will disperse towards
lamp. Unseen by human eyes the owls beauty. The days are encrusted with sparkling their breeding grounds. Some might move
hunt on windswept moors and roost in rime frost that makes the most ordinary north, returning to the Baltic states and
quiet patches of pine forest. Few people
ever witness them, and even fewer still
know what they require to survive.
“In Hungary, and other Central and
Eastern European countries, owls flourish
in agriculturally undeveloped places,” In winter, the land has a stark,
Milan explains. But the owls in Serbia have crystalline beauty. The days are
benefitted from unwittingly sympathetic
human activity. Around the towns, and in encrusted with sparkling rime.
amongst the houses and villages, people
planted fast-growing conifer trees – for

36 BBC Wildlife December 2018